Raining ladybugs
by Radiklement
Summary: After a particularly tough fight against Hawkmoth and Mayura, Ladybug makes a miscalculation regarding the time she has left with her powers working. What will Chat Noir thinks when he spots Marinette falling in the sky with no akuma left to explain the situation? Can she give him an excuse believable enough?


This shot was inspired to me by a silly talk with a friend, about how Marinette might miscalculate the time she has left to jump off into the sky. So what would happen if she fell out of her transformation and was saved by Chat Noir? Would she be able to keep her secret identity a secret?

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Raining ladybugs

It had been and unusually long fight against Hawk Moth tonight, both Ladybug and Chat noir cutting it close with their miraculous beeping a little faster with every passing minute. They barely exchanged congratulations, Ladybug in the usual rush to make sure her identity would remain a secret to her partner. Chat noir leaped off in the general direction of his house, wondering if there was any way he could get his lady to give him a second look without it being out of pity or annoyance. He was growing a little more desperate about having his feelings returned. At this point, it might never happen. Maybe he just wasn't cut out for love.

A high-pitched scream cut him off from his dark thoughts, Chat noir whipping around, realizing the scream was coming from the direction in which Ladybug had been going.

Marinette had miscalculated things, her transformation wearing off in the middle of a jump, which send her falling down between particularly tall buildinsg. Tikki had meant to last longer, but she was exhausted, almost collapsing instead of gathering what was left of her magic to keep herself afloat. Taking out three akumatized persons in a row had taken its toll; that and the two times Marinette had had to transform. As the dark blue-haired girl wondered if she was going to turn into a pancake in some back alley, she felt strong arms catching her mid-fall, her neck jolting from the jarring motion, her scream cut off as she bit on her tongue, tasting blood in her mouth and feeling tears gathering in her eyes while she couldn't help her shaking.

Chat noir had turned back and caught her somehow, halting her fall and taking the brunt of it as he landed on the closest balcony, his shoulder hitting a glass pane as he shifted her around his arms to have her head hitting his chest instead of said glass. Their motion was so quick they broke through the window, shards flying around, Marinette yelping as she coiled up on herself, Chat noir grinding his teeth as he felt fresh cuts in his skin. He held her even closer to him, hoping no glass shard had reached her.

What had she been doing free-falling here of all place?

His brain was ticking almost as quickly as the beeping of his ring and he felt a physical tug in his brain as something clicked into place.

"Marinette, could you be…?"

She looked up at him with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open as she realized how hard it would be to deny being Ladybug this time. He couldn't know, she had to find a plausible reason.

"Of course not, I…!"

"Who's there?!" a nervous voice asked, sounds of someone shuffling around startling both of the teenagers.

Chat noir scrambled to his feet, wincing as pain registered in his every limb, but lifted Marinette like she weighted nothing, rushing to the balcony and leaping to the nearest roof. She nearly bit on her tongue again, holding on to him for dear life as he propelled them upward and further away from the apartment they'd crashed in. He didn't want to let her get in trouble and he also didn't think he could handle a spat with some random stranger over a broken window.

Catching his breath on the fourth rooftop, he let her down, giving a nervous glance to his ring and realizing he still had some time, although not much.

"Marinette, are you okay?" he started, still panting.

"Yes, I'm… I'm so sorry, you're hurt," she realized.

Seeing actual blood on him, coming a cut on his left upper arm and right thigh made her heart drop a few notches in her chest. He had definitely been bruised before by their fights against Hawkmoth, but this was actually worse and it was all her fault for not realizing how exhausted Tikki was.

"Never mind that, princess," the young man shrugged it off, grabbing her by both shoulders in the hope that would stop her shaking.

She had a cut on her right ankle and droplets of his blood had stained her white shirt, one of her pigtails out of its elastic.

"You're ladybug, aren't you?" he went on to ask, leaving her struggling for a good excuse.

"NO, I mean, no, I just… I was just trying out parkour, you know, since one of my friends is really into it, and Ladybug was in such a rush, she hit me as she jumped by…"

Chat noir frowned, even more suspicious now.

"Are you seriously asking me to believe Ladybug would let you drop to your death? This was a twenty story drop, I was afraid your neck could snap when I'd caught you…"

Marinette couldn't help but bring a hand up to her neck, feeling the soreness settling in.

"That's not something a hero should say," she tried to tease him, her voice coming out a little too scared to her own liking.

"Well, parkouring should be done with a minimum of protective gear. I'll give you a lift back to the street level, okay?"

She nodded, unable to refrain a yelp as he picked her up once more, instantly apologizing for it.

"You must have been frightened, falling out of nowhere like that."

And his brain couldn't help wondering if this couldn't be Ladybug. It seemed to make sense, but it was getting hard to think with the growing burns of his laceration. He didn't like the idea that he was putting blood on her, or that she'd gotten hurt on his watch.

"I'll be okay," she whispered, tensing just as he leaped down the rooftop's ledge.

He used a couple rail guards as footholds, his legs shaky as he reached the road. He stepped back on the sidewalk, gently putting her back down, wishing he could give her a bandage or something for her cut. As she gingerly moved her head around to get her bearings, two small glass shards fell off her hair. His ring beeped again, with more insistence and he confirmed that he was on the last blink.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go, my lady."

"I'm just Marinette," she swore to him, blurting out a "thank you" that he barely heard, jumping down into a back alley that was dark enough to hide him. Marinette saw the green spark of his fading transformation and quickly turned on her heels, worried that the unmasked Chat Noir could step back out to insist on checking who she really was.

Adrien watched her leaving, his heart pounding in his ears. That crash in a window pane had scared him too and his shoulder was smarting bad. He certainly hoped Nathalie wouldn't be able to spot the bruises that were sure to follow. Explaining those were always harder than explaining where he'd disappeared to. He wanted to follow Marinette and make sure she got home safely, but Plagg was in no shape for a new transformation and he was all out of cheese.

"Are you okay, Plagg?"

"I'll be fine as soon as I can have some camembert," the small cat whined, laying on his good shoulder, his whiskers tickling Adrien's neck as he spoke. "This was a long time to hold on your hero form," he commented.

"I know. I just don't understand how Ladybug could actually… make someone fall off a roof and just run away. She could have pulled Marinette up with her yo-yo or…"

"Well, I don't think sugar cube was in any shape to… Oops."

"Sugar cube?" Adrien repeated. "Do you mean Tikki?"

"It's getting quite dark Adrien, if we don't get back, there will be no sneaking into the kitchen possible," Plagg tried to distract him with an alarmed voice, but Adrien wouldn't have any of it.

"Do you know something I don't, Plagg? You know I wouldn't repeat it to anyone, I _love_ Ladybug," he reminded him.

His phone buzzed in the pocket of his jean and Adrien jumped when he saw the caller was Nathalie. It was past one in the morning and he'd been out since seven pm. His father was going to ground him for life at this rate.

"I shouldn't pick it up," he sighed, stepping out of the alleyway as soon as Plagg had taken shelter in the inner pocket of his white shirt.

"Cheese, Adrien, don't forget."

"I know, Plagg. We really had to end up on the other side of Paris…"

It took a good hour and a half for him to get back, getting weird looks from a few passersby, but not running into any more trouble. Sneaking into the house was a nightmare, since he would usually swing back in as Chat Noir. He considered taking the front door, but that would mean facing either Nathalie or his father. Now that he wondered about it, what was Nathalie doing at the manor so late into the night? She usually left around eleven, no matter how long her shifts ended up being.

_Maybe father finally decided that giving her one of the guest rooms was better than letting her leave at ungodly hours._

He should have questioned something else, there was clearly a ton of things he wasn't realizing yet, but Adrien dismissed any further question. He asked Plagg for help only to leap over the brick wall surrounding the house, making his way to the back entrance and sneaking around as well as he could, grabbing the smelliest cheese he could find for Plagg and a snack for himself. He had stuff to patch himself up in his room, and somehow got up there without catching either his nervously patrolling bodyguard's attention or falling in the line of sight of Nathalie. Letting Plagg take his hunger out on the cheese, he went to the bathroom, shrugging off his slightly blood-stained clothes to see how bad the cuts were.

He hadn't expected normal glass to be able to cut through his hero suit, but then again, it wasn't as bad as being hit by his own cataclysm. God, just thinking about it, his ribs were aching. He cleaned the cuts, took a quick shower, bandaged his wounds and threw on pyjamas with long sleeves despite the time of the year. There had been a lot of knocks on the door while he was in the bathroom and when he finally stepped out, he was met with a pissed-off looking Nathalie.

"Adrien, where were you?" she asked him, standing by the door with her tablet held under her arm.

He couldn't help but notice how tired she looked, dark bags under her eyes, her skin so pale, he could see the veins on her neck.

"I… I was staying at Nino's place and we just didn't see the time."

"You missed your piano lesson," Nathalie reminded him. "And I've already called your friend Nino. His parents told me he was sleeping over at his girlfriend's place…"

Adrien gulped nervously at that. It didn't sound like his father's assistant was willing to overlook things this time. If only she'd gone back home, he would have gotten away with just a missed piano lesson.

_Think, think, think,_ he told himself.

But Nino had always been his best excuse no matter what.

"Can you please not tell father, Nathalie? He's been even easier to anger lately and I didn't do anything bad or _dangerous_," he barely kept his voice even on the lie, pushing forward, "I'm nearly eighteen, I just want to…"

Something in her eyes softened, but then her face was grimacing, and she brought one hand up to her mouth, a rough, dry cough clawing its way out of her throat. Adrien winced at the roughness of her coughing fit, turning white when he saw her wavering, her tablet actually dropping from her hold as she bent forward. His reflexes had turned faster and faster with the years he'd been Chat Noir and he caught the device, throwing it on the nearby couch, before catching Nathalie herself, barely holding back a groan of pain as her weight leaned against his aching shoulder. His bruises looked bad, but her cough definitely sounded worse.

"You've been sick for a while now," he sighed, looking around him as though help could barge from behind his piano or down the basket. "Clovis!" he called out as Nathalie's coughing got even worse, her head brushing against his as she struggled against the fit, to no avail.

He smelled something sharp, like blood and bile and his stomach twisted. That reminded him too much of his mother being sick.

Clovis, Adrien's bodyguard, barged into the room, instantly understanding what was happening as he saw the teenager helping Nathalie along toward the door. The gorilla-like man hoisted her up, Adrien following as they aimed for the nearest guest room.

"I'm fine, Clovis, you should put me down," Nathalie protested, but one look from Adrien had the large man ignoring her entirely.

"What's all this ruckus about, it's…?!" Gabriel Agreste started, stopping mid-sentence as he realized Nathalie's coughing was not stopping. "I thought I told her to get home hours ago," he half heartedly grumbled, stepping up and making a gesture for Clovis to pass the sick woman over to him. "Adrien, you shouldn't be up at such an hour."

"But father, Nathalie is…"

"I got her," Gabriel cut him off, actually holding the coughing woman closer to him. The way she leaned against him seemed awfully intimate and Adrien felt a bubbling fire welling up in his chest at the sight.

He had definitely missed something if they were that close, but seeing as his father was still wearing his wedding ring and heartbroken about his mother, seeing this display of intimacy between his father and another woman than his mother felt _wrong_.

"It sounds like she needs to…"

"I don't need your advice, young man. Get back to your room and sleep, you've got school tomorrow."

"Gabriel…" Nathalie started, a new fit of coughing cutting her short in her attempt at taking Adrien's defense.

"Clovis, get a doctor here," Gabriel ordered, turning his back on Adrien and hurrying down the hall.

Adrien stood back, realizing he would have rather been grounded for life than feel the fear of anything happening to Nathalie. He didn't want to go through what losing his mother had been like. And he doubted his father would survive it.

Getting back to his room, he heard Plagg snoring and gathered the small kwami in his hands, to lay him on the pillow next to his, ruffling the soft fur on the front of his large head with one finger, smiling as the kwami purred in his sleep, curling on himself a little more. He hoped Marinette was home and safe. And felt his doubts coming back to his mind regarding her mysterious free fall at such a height in the middle of the night.

_I don't think anyone from school is into parkour,_ he thought to himself as he slid under the covers.

Of all the excuses Marinette had made, this had to be one of the craziest he'd heard. It took him time to fall asleep, but when he did, he dreamed of ladybugs raining from the sky.

…

Marinette didn't head straight back home. She hadn't seen Tikki mid-fall and with Char Noir rescuing her, her kwami couldn't get back to her right away. So she walked back on her footsteps, hoping she was taking the right way to begin with. Paris looked way different from the streets, versus the rooftops. It was very dark and she was growing more and more worried about the small kwami.

_She was so exhausted, I really need to give her all the food I can when we're back home._

She wondered if Tikki wasn't sick. Hopefully, the poor thing had kept out of sight and was doing fine, instead of getting kidnapped by some kid thinking she was a toy. After some hesitation, Marinette surmised it was fine to call out her name as she searched for her. She could always pretend she'd lost her cat or hamster. She heard the tiniest voice calling her back after searching for over fifteen minutes.

"Oh Tikki, are you okay?" Marinette asked, picking up the red kwami in both of her hands.

"I'm so sorry, Marinette, I couldn't hold any longer, if it wasn't for Chat Noir, you could have died because of me…"

"I pushed you too much and forgot to refill my sugar reserves like the klutz I am," Marinette objected.

"Three akumatized persons in one night and one of Mayura's monster is a lot to deal with, for both you and me," Tikki objected.

Hawkmoth was getting desperate.

"I'll get you sweets as soon as we're back, Tikki."

It wasn't quite safe to be out on the streets this late, so Marinette was spotted by Sabrina's father who was on a night patrol and he offered to give her a lift back to her place. She was given a dozen different warnings and knew her parents would chew her ear off once they'd get a call from the man, but she was glad to be sitting down in a warm space instead of still being outside with her thoughts running in circles. Chat noir sounded anything but convinced about her parkour story and she was already dreading her next encounter with him as Ladybug. He sounded mad at the very idea Ladybug could not notice she had endangered someone. And with good reason too. She wouldn't let even Chloe fall to her death, even though she might consider it for the first half-second.

_Sometimes, you should really wonder why master Fu even picked you,_ she thought bitterly.

She waited until the policeman dropping her off had pulled into a new street to climb up the vine that led to her room, sneaking in and giving Tikki half a dozen cookies. Then she worried about the cut on her ankle, heaving a heavy sigh as she realized how deep it went. No shock walking around had been so painful. Falling asleep included a lot of tossing and turning and the time to get up and head to school came way too quickly. She was late to class, making the mistake to try and jog a part of the way, only to regret and go back to walking at the pace of a snail. To her own surprise, Adrien was just as late as her, joining her at the bottom of the stair. He had dark bags under his eyes and looked paler than usual, her smile weak as he gave a frail wave as a greeting.

"Your driver didn't take you to school today?"

"My father's assistant needed to be taken to the hospital," he sighed, worry permeating his voice. "And I kinda overslept…"

Marinette wondered how to offer him comfort, worried her words might meld together.

"I hope your father's assistant will get better quickly," she whispered.

Climbing the stairs was a challenge, her ankle aching as her muscles pulled and burned. Adrien didn't look much more comfortable than her, but Marinette put it on the fact he might have run to make it in time. When they finally reached their classroom, Adrien holding the door for Marinette, their teacher started making a comment about punctuality, both teens hurrying to their desk with lowered shoulders.

When lunchtime came, Marinette thought her head was about ready to blow. The headache she'd had upon waking up threatened to grow into a full-blown migraine, but she was distracted from it by Nino's surprised gasp as he spotted blood on Adrien's white jacket. The entire class started fretting, Adrien dismissing it as the wound from a fencing incident, but the prolonged look he gave Marinette seemed too pointed for her to brush it off immediately. She remembered the cuts on Chat Noir. One had been in the exact same spot as Adrien's fresh bloodstain. He visited the infirmary with Nino, even though he appeared against it to begin with.

"When was the last time Adrien had a fencing practice?" Alya asked Marinette.

From the top of her head, Marinette went back Adrien's usual schedule, a frown showing on her face.

"Two days ago, he has one today after school."

"That's what I thought," Alya declared. "If that happened two days ago, why is he still bleeding?"

"But where else could this have happened to him?"

Alya shook her head at the innocent look on Marinette's face.

"Nino told me his father's assistant had called at his place last night. Sounds like Adrien has been out quite late and trying to find excuses to explain it. I really wonder what he's been up to. He's been different lately, don't you think?"

It was true that Adrien acted a lot quieter than his usual self. He would still smile to his classmates, but there was something fragile to his eyes. Marinette had noticed, because everything about him mattered to her, but she had no idea what had changed for the young man to be this closed off. He would talk to people when addressed and didn't mind helping his classmates with homework. He just seemed dejected somehow.

If Marinette could have linked the information she had, she would know he was sad from the latest rejection from Ladybug. As far as she was concerned, Adrien might have been pressured into something bad and needed to be rescued by someone and would regain his senses and might even be struck by love for his savior if she played her cards right.

_Selfless, Marinette, good lord, can't you be selfless like Ladybug is supposed to be? _She asked herself.

…

Like Adrien feared, his father was warned of the cut on his arm. He was just glad the one on his thigh had more bandages and shouldn't be discovered anytime soon. He was going to get hell over it, especially since he had a modelling session in two days.

_It's not like make-up can't cover it up_, he thought bitterly as he sat in the car driven by Clovis. He was welcomed home by his father looking quite severe, his arms crossed, and the usual frown set on his face like a mask.

"Hi fath…"

"Adrien!" Gabriel cut him off. "Nathalie confessed how late you actually got home last night. I hope you have an explanation for me about that and the gash on your arm."

The teenager grit his teeth, feeling like fighting back against his father. Gabriel Agreste was still intimidating and terrifying to him, but he was feeling so pissed off right now, he only half-registered it.

"How about an explanation for the reason why Nathalie was home so late last night and why you're still having her work when she's coughing up blood?"

Gabriel's face hardened even more, his teeth showing as he groaned "That is none of your concern."

"Father, I see Nathalie more than I see you, of course I'm concerned."

"I asked you a question first."

"I cut myself on broken glass, happy?"

"How? Where?" Gabriel insisted.

"_It's none of your concern_," Adrien answered, mimicking his father's tone down to every shift of anger, "or maybe you'd ask me where I go every night instead of just yesterday!"

"Adrien! You're going to talk to me and give me straight answers, you hear?"

The words were punctuated by his hand grabbing the young man's arm, Adrien freeing himself with a violent shrug, a moan of pain coming out.

"You wouldn't believe me if I did! Why don't you get back to work and I get back to my schedule like the good little pawn?"

"Careful, son, you're crossing a…"

Adrien backed away when his father took a step forward, his fists shaking with all the contained anger he'd kept inside for the past few years. Gabriel was shaken by the sight, recognizing himself in the young man, and also the stubbornness of Émilie. With Nathalie still in the hospital, the man was softer than he'd want to be and decided to switch tactics, forcing the harsh line of his mouth to ease a little.

"Adrien, I have a right to ask what's happening to you if you're getting yourself hurt. And if you're sneaking off every night."

Which was true, but Adrien couldn't give him the truth, because that would mean blowing his cover and he doubted his father would agree to let him be Chat Noir… Like, at all. He said the first thing that came to his mind.

"I'm… I'm seeing a girl." Not a lie. "I know you wouldn't approve of her, so I didn't want to risk it. I'm sorry for screaming."

Gabriel frowned.

"That girl has you playing around with broken glass?!"

"No, no, that was an accident!" Adrien quickly said, wishing he'd picked another excuse. And then he remembered Marinette fumbling with words. Next thing he knew, he was trying out her pitiful story. "We've been trying out parkour and things went a little south."

"Park… Adrien!"

"We're not doing it again, it was stupid."

"It certainly was! I forbid you from seeing this girl again, ever!"

The pictures of Marinette and Ladybug floated up to Adrien's mind, both of them wearing a smile, one shy, one bold and his heart did a strange flip as he imagined not seeing either of them ever again. He was afraid his father might have the power to make it happen. He just grit his teeth, his shoulders falling inward.

"No comeback?" Gabriel mused.

"I don't see the point in asking you not to make my life miserable."

The harsh remark was enough to silence Gabriel. He was already feeling guilty for the state Nathalie was in and now his own son…

"I got a fencing lesson," Adrien noted, starting to walk off.

"You should sit this one out, give that arm a chance to recover."

"I'd rather not get behind."

God forbid teenager from being anything but a pain in the neck.

…

On that night patrol, Ladybug was especially nervous. She'd received a couple texts from Chat Noir and had only answered the first one.

_CN: I saved Marinette from a bad fall and she said you'd pushed her off a roof by accident. Am I becoming crazy?_

_LB: I never saw her, it's a good thing you caught her, kitty!_

When he finally landed next to her, she couldn't help but notice his light wince, one hand going to his wounded leg and holding back from applying pressure to it. She wanted to apologize so bad, but it felt like a dead giveaway.

"Hey…" she greeted him.

"Hey you," came his answer, the young man heaving a deep sigh. "I've been wondering. That Marinette Dupain-Chang girl…"

The way Ladybug imperceptibly jumped had him frowning and wishing he could actually be certain enough to pry the mask off her face. But that would be disrespectful.

"I can't believe I didn't see her," Ladybug answered.

"Or feel her when you bumped into her. It's not like either of our suits are quite padded," he observed, feeling his cheeks flushing as she raised an eyebrow at him for looking her up and down as if to confirm his comment.

"I was very close to detransforming," she defended herself.

"Guess I should stop being such a grumpy cat," he mocked himself.

Ladybug felt bad, but decided to push through. Having him know her real identity wouldn't help either of them. She insisted on making a short patrol, defending that Marinette had told her about the wounds he'd sustained when he'd rescued her.

"You talk with Marinette an awful lot, don't you?"

"Oh, I just checked on her after you told me what had happened."

Chat smiled at that, wondering why his strong suspicion couldn't just go away.

"How was she doing?" he couldn't help but asked.

He'd seen the way Marinette had been limping about at school and looked down at Ladybug's feet, wondering how she didn't limp herself it they were indeed the same person. It didn't seem to be that way.

"A tad scared, but doing well," Ladybug answered.

Maybe the suit was helping her along, but his own suit certainly wasn't working that way. Plagg had admitted that fixing it would take up some of his energy, and sadly, the lucky charm power wouldn't work on either them.

"Should we take a look around?" Ladybug suggested.

He nodded and they jumped after one another, falling back into the joy of feeling free as they nearly flew through the night sky. Of course, a few landings were rougher. Maybe Ladybug did call for more stops than usual, and she seemed to keep throwing worried glances at him, while Chat noir was making his usual jokes, keeping his voice as steady as possible.

Everything seemed to be quiet, and indeed, Hawkmoth felt like the only people susceptible to be akumatized tonight were either his own son or himself.

"I think we can rest easy today," Ladybug declared mid-jump, Chat Noir landing first and nodding in agreement.

As she landed next to him, she felt the pain in her ankle flare and couldn't keep her balance, Chat noir rushing to her aid, but already feeling the toll of his own wounds and fatigue. He managed to wrap one arm around her and followed her down, their foreheads hitting each other as they fell on their sides, instinctively holding on each other as though it would limit the damage.

Chat noir found the strength to push himself back up on one elbow to look down at their feet, noticing red spots of blood on the gray rooftops. It looked almost like silver under the moonlight bathing both of them with its glow, but his well-developed nose made the difference without fail.

"You are Marinette!" he exclaimed, somehow keeping his voice low enough to ensure the secrecy of her identity.

"Chat, this is not…!"

Feeling like he'd never had a better occasion to tell her the truth, Adrien removed his mask, the rest of his suit staying on, cat ears, bell and leather. Marinette tensed next to him, her hands gripping to his suit.

"Ad… Adri… ADRI…!"

He covered her mouth with his gloved hand, alarm showing on his face.

"Careful, someone will hear you Marinette," he reminded her and she blushed, wondering how blind she could have been.

Adrien had gotten hurt in the exact same spot as Chat Noir. Adrien was allergic to feathers and so was Chat Noir. Whenever Chat Noir didn't show up for a mission, it was because Adrien had been…

_Oh my god. Oh my god. And I've been rejecting Adrien clad in leather and making bad puns because I was in love with Adrien…_

"You really are Marinette, right?"

She pulled off her own mask, growing the darkest shade of red as she fought against her embarrassment.

"I can't believe it… You and Chat Noir are so different."

"Chat Noir feels a lot more like the real me," he confessed to her, feeling his cheeks growing warmer and warmer. "And we both love you."

Her heart might have been blown off by that declaration and she was certain smoke was coming out from her ears.

"Ad… Chat… Oh my god. I… I'm not like Ladybug… Like… at all. I mix up words and I'm the clumsiest…"

Adrien shook his head, reaching one hand out to brush a stray lock of hair away from her eyes.

"I love you. Clumsy and sassy."

She had to be red down to her chest now and her heart was a thundering gallop of hooves, or maybe were those the butterflies in her stomach, oh no, butterflies were bad, she couldn't let Hawkmoth detect her violently shifting emotions.

"I… I love you too!" she blurted out.

And maybe was it from wearing the red dotted suit or something else, but the words came out fine. He blinked at her, taken aback. He hadn't even hoped… Although looking back, Marinette's feelings for him might have been obvious. He had been so head over heels for Ladybug and just so awkward…

"Did I hit my head? All my puns _bug_ you cat-astrophically."

"That's because you should be slapped for them! But I… I meant it, Adrien. I really like you. Like, like like you, not just… Oh god!"

She covered her face with both hands, ducking till her forehead brushed against his chest as embarrassment took over. His charmed chuckle was the best sound she'd heard in the entire day.

"It's pretty ironic, isn't it? You have the same haircut. The same way of taking charge of things when there's trouble. And yet..."

"I feel stupid," Marinette whined, still hiding.

"You gotta stop hiding, my lady. You can't be embarrassed of being around me anymore, not now that you know I'm always silly, right?"

Marinette gasped at that, unsure of what she was supposed to say. Adrien was pulling away and his face was also red, his green eyes looking so different from the cat eyes that usually came along the leather. She realized she missed them now.

"I don't know how I can even process…"

"Marinette," he said, marvel in his voice. "Princess."

The shift in intonation was so subtle, her eyes widened with pure shock. How had she not heard it before? Adrien had acted like Chat Noir a couple times. And now that she knew, she felt so silly for not…

"I never liked that nickname much," she admitted, fighting to retain the Ladybug's capacity of dismissing the butterflies Adrien could summon in her chest with just a bat of his eyelids, to channel the annoyance she usually felt for Chat Noir.

How shallow was she? Because she couldn't see his face fully, because he was making jokes…?

"I'm sorry, it just… Whenever I tried rescuing you, it really felt a lot more dangerous of selling out my cover."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I've been… Adrien, I didn't know…"

"What? If I didn't happen to be Adrien, you wouldn't like me…" he realized, pulling back from her at that, only for her hands to grab on his shoulders to keep him in place. He really wanted to wrap his arms around her, but fought against it. "Feels like I'm cheating."

"No, no, it just… it only means that I've been a stupid, self-centered girl, unable to see what was in front of her."

"I don't know how that can make me feel better. My face is all over the city."

_And her room,_ he remembered, paling slightly.

Marinette felt the tensing in his frame and frowned.

"What is…?"

Then he thought about every single ladybug merchandise he'd ordered and realized they really were just the same.

"Nothing," he sighed, a weak smile coming back on his face. "I'm just feeling very sheepish."

"Oh?"

"You think you can love me with all the puns?"

Marinette flushed, a weak strangled sound escaping from her throat.

"I certainly feel like I need to get to know you better," she managed.

There was a playfulness to her words that reminded him of Ladybug so much. He wanted to kiss her right there. He leaned forward, a burst of warmth raising in his chest as he felt her arms closing around his back. He was welcomed and even wanted now. And he didn't have to worry about not seeing her when they weren't heroes. He was already seeing her every day.

"Are you… thinking of kissing me?" Marinette found the boldness to ask him.

"Well, would be too bad to miss on such a good occasion. I can't believe you're smitten for this kitten…"

"Oh shut up, will you?" she rolled her eyes at him, her smile widening, her blush doing the same.

She actually pushed herself upward, their eyes asking each other all the questions they were still too bashful to voice, even though they both knew they had already kissed each other in countless circumstances. It felt almost wrong, but this time was their first time and while feeling a few doubts, they also couldn't help being impatient. Their lips brushed, tentatively, but there was no pulling away, no akuma dictating it, no mind game or teasing banter.

She wanted to know him and he felt like he finally truly knew her. Although nowhere near enough.

"Mari…"

"Adrien…"

They kissed then, softly at first, still shy, but also fighting against a part of them that wondered how much lost time they had to make up for. Parting was torture and they went back for a second kiss, then a third, Adrien pulling back afterwards, afraid he could take them too far.

"We should go on a date. And I want to kiss you as Marinette, not just…"

He bit his tongue, feeling conflicted about the sudden dichotomy of his affection. He didn't want to dismiss Ladybug, she was the one he'd fallen in love with, but she really was Marinette and that meant…

"Oh my god, you need to stop being so sweet!"

He helped her to her feet, the pair ending up talking the night away. They agreed that casual flirting as Ladybug and Chat Noir should be enough, since outright dating would give another weakness to exploit to Hawkmoth. They would date as the people they were, not the heroes they could become.

…

On the following morning, the whole class was shocked by the way the two interacted. Marinette didn't mix her words anymore, although she would still blush and fidget a lot, but when Adrien put a hand on her shoulder or her back, she would calm down.

"What happened girl?" Alya asked her best friend. "When did Adrien get so touchy-feely with you?"

Marinette couldn't help her smile.

"We're… sort of dating?"

"WHAT?!"

…

Gabriel learned of the news in a matter of hours and demanded explanations, and Adrien decided it was better to rip the bandage in one go instead of waiting. So both teenagers ended up standing in the entrance of the mansion, Marinette nervous and Adrien on edge. When Gabriel Agreste showed up, one brow rose up so high it might reach his hairline, he simply declared:

"Are you telling me miss Dupain-Cheng is the one that had you doing parkour?!"

The End.

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I did it, I dit it, it's a one-shot! I hope you enjoyed it. Please let me know what you thought. 😊


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